Bridging the Sacred: Spiritual Streams in 20th-Century Latin American and Caribbean Art, 1920–1970
The Cisneros Institute’s second research topic focuses on the relationship between modern art and spiritual beliefs in Latin America and the Caribbean. An in-depth study of various spiritual traditions and their influence on the arts of the region between 1920 and 1970, the project questions dominant narratives around modernism that herald secularism as a central tenet. We approach the study of art in relation to spirituality, addressing instances of cultural exchange as well as the power relations between various social, racial, and religious groups.
Engaging with artists’ interpretations of occult/mystic, Afro-Diasporic, Indigenous, Catholic, and Judaic spiritualities, we seek to invite specialists, curators, and artists to further explore the impact these belief systems have had on the artistic modernities of Latin America and the Caribbean. Interdisciplinary in scope, this project seeks to generate new insights from the fields of art history, the comparative history of religion, anthropology, and performance and curatorial studies. Likewise, this approach highlights how artists’ spiritual explorations during the decades in question were articulated within the history of artistic modernisms, anticipating the resurgence in spirituality we are currently witnessing in the arts.
Focusing on the spiritual as the basis for the study of modern art in Latin America and the Caribbean will build on previous scholarship and curatorial projects while straddling various belief systems. As we seek to address issues of coloniality and artistic agency in self-representation, we strive to make substantive contributions to discussions about the challenges of exhibiting and collecting artworks that possess spiritual or ritualistic elements. The project will highlight artists whose work has had little visibility, while simultaneously offering new interpretations of already established figures in the histories of modern art of the region.
The Institute will be dedicated to studying this topic from 2023 to 2025, and the research project will develop in two phases. The first is a series of internal study sessions on each of the five proposed spiritual streams and their interminglings. These sessions will use specific artworks as points of departure for inquiries into the state of the art of these artistic practices and beliefs. The second phase will include a public conference and a publication directed toward international audiences.